AdeaI was speechless as I watched him walk away from me. I felt as if I had been rejected. I knew that’s not what happened but it still hurt. I really thought he would have taken me with him. I had been right to be scared that he would say no. I couldn’t comprehend what would make him do this. I didn’t need anything but him. I didn’t need anyone but him. The door closed behind him and I was left behind in this room. I wanted to run after him but I knew it was pointless. I couldn’t bring myself to move, so I just stayed where I stood. My mind struggled to understand why he would leave me here.He was leaving my father’s lands, he was leaving me behind, he was giving me to Ethan. Was there any excuse he could give me that would make this okay? Even though my time had run out, even as the wolves stalked me, even as the wolves descended I could only think of him. How could I not think about him when he was injured and going out there?He was going rogue and even though I was angry at him
AdeaI should probably be afraid but I couldn’t find it in me to be. Ethan nodded and smiled at the crowd but his grip on me told a different story. Instead of fear I felt satisfaction knowing that he knew, or at least suspected. I did my best not to look like I was dreading the rest of my night, my future, or my life, but I wasn’t doing very well.I was introduced to a few people but I did the bare minimum. I doubted I would see any of these people again. There was one woman who asked me if I was feeling okay. I could feel Ethan’s eyes on me but I reassured her I was fine. There was no use in reaching out to her or anyone else here. No one would help me.Help.I was reminded of the dressmaker. Trying not to be obvious I slowly scanned the crowd for dirty blonde hair but I couldn’t find anyone that had Gabriel’s build. He said he would help me tonight. I’d almost forgotten. As much as I wanted to cry and give up I couldn’t. Even if the outcome was bleak. Gabe was my last sliver of hop
AdeaAs soon as the doors closed behind us Ethan’s body tensed. I wasn’t looking at him, but I didn’t need to be, I could feel it. His arms flexed against my small ones, his wrist shook with what I would assume is anger. His steps quicken and I’m pulled along like a doll. I’m already noticing the difference between Ethan and him.I don’t know when I decided. All I know is that it happened sometime from the moment he said he was the reason I had to stay here and realizing Gabriel was nowhere to be found. I had decided to lock his name away in a small box and bury it deep inside my heart. The deeper the better, if it was out of reach I wouldn’t have to think about him. Because if I did, my eyes were already starting to water.If I did think about him in the next few days I would lose it. I couldn’t be strong, I couldn’t go through with what was going to happen if I thought about him. If I had him on my mind I would break into a thousand little pieces. If that happened I didn’t think I w
Adea The sound of my shoes clacked against the floor with each step. I walked through the packhouse with Ethan by my side. I’d grown up here and not once had it felt like home, but it was all I had, and all I had known. I hadn’t thought of my mother in a few years but now as I forcibly walked toward a fate I didn’t want, I thought of her. Would she have let my father go this far? Would she have stopped him? Or would she have just stood there and told me to do as I’m told? All of the guests had been assigned a room for the duration of their stay. When Ethan offered me his hand as I popped my head out of the carriage, I stated at his outstretched arm. I didn’t want to take it and I didn’t want to go any further with him. He asked me where my room was and it felt as if the world stopped moving. My heart dropped into my stomach and unease bloomed in my chest. I didn’t have to ask why he was asking. Of course Ethan hadn’t been given a room. I knew immediately that he was sharing my ro
Adea The world was spinning and I struggled to see straight. I took deep breaths to try and ground myself. Shifting from one foot to the other I hoped it would help, but it didn’t. I needed to snap out of it and pull myself together. This was the worst time to feel ill or get dizzy. I would not be the weak female lead like the ones I read in novels. I had read so many and I knew the type. Most of the time, the heroines in the romance novels I found in the novels that littered my shelves were useless. They didn’t fight back, they couldn’t because they were unable to do anything by themselves. The sweet and gentle heroine needed someone tall, handsome, and strong to come in and fight her battles for her. This was a classic moment where the female lead would faint and her hero would crash through the door. He’d pull out his sword and fight the villain. They would fight to the death and would end with the villain dead on the floor. I wanted it, wished for it, but I knew better. This was
AdeaI haven’t been alone with him since that one day and I had still been a child. I’d only gotten a glimpse at the devil lying beneath. Now that I was stuck in a room with him late at night I would see the Ethan no one else got to see. If I said I wasn’t afraid I would be lying. I was young not stupid. I knew what was going to happen tonight and I knew that Ethan was a force not to be reckoned with.Would that stop me from fighting back?No.Would that stop me from at least trying to hurt him?Definitely not.That doesn’t mean that this man didn’t make me hesitate. He’s been a man since I was a girl and even though years had passed he still looked the same. I’d done my best not to look at him the entire night. But now that he was staring at me and I was staring at him, I had no choice but to look at him.The demand was clear and I held my head high as I made my way toward my chair in front of the vanity. My body was on edge being in here with him. The only man I’d ever had in here o
AdeaI don’t know what was going on with Korra but I knew it had to do with him. He was the reason she was where she was. I could feel it as she could feel the pain I was feeling. I didn’t want to watch him. I didn’t want to see him. I knew coming into this room with Ethan that nothing would ever be the same for me again.I knew I would never feel safe again when he came in here, but I hadn’t prepared myself for him to tear through my safe space. I wasn’t ready for him to tear through my memories with him. I wanted to do something, say something that would stop him, but that time had passed. I provoked him. I made my bed, now I had to lay in it.I couldn’t do anything. I was paralyzed where I sat. You know when you have those dreams where you can’t move? The ones where you can’t do anything, you can’t move, but you can move your eyes? That’s how I felt. It was like I was in a dream I couldn’t wake up from.All I could do was watch Ethan as he tore through my room. He walked over to th
My heart dropped into my belly and for a second I entertained the idea not fighting him. I lied to myself and toyed with the idea of letting him do what he wanted, but disgust had my stomach rolling. The warmth of his body felt wrong against mine as he leaned forward. Without a second thought, I spat in his face. I wasn’t going down without a fight.Fuck not fighting.And fuck Ethan.The audacity of this man. I hated the way he made me feel weak. I hated feeling small compared to his large frame. It was nothing like the way felt with … The spittle landed satisfyingly on his eyebrow and slid down over his eye. I was grossed out as it collected on his eyelashes before slowly dripping down between us.I don’t care about what he wanted and I was far from the fragile girl I was when we first met all those many years ago. We may have stood in front of all the packs in attendance as a united front but he’s got another thing coming to him if he thinks I’ll lay down and take it like a dog.“Yo